Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Punching the Air

I absolutely believe stories like this need to be told. Stories of black trauma, particularly those of broken justice systems and biased criminal accusations, are extremely common in YA, and for a reason - things aren’t changing in the world, so the same story must be told over and over again.

The co-author is what makes Punching the Air stand out from others. Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, co-authored this novel to show the corruption in the system and inspire those who would fight for change. In that way, Punching the Air is probably the purest form of this oft-told story - an author speaks from lived experience.

The thing that made this book less enjoyable for me has less to do with the book or its authors. Specifically, I didn’t enjoy the narrator. Without seeing a physical copy, I am left to assume that this book was written in prose and the narrator reads it like poetry. The dialogue is very slowly spoken, and there are significant pauses at the end of every sentence. For a short poem, this type of narration works. For a full length novel, it got exhausting very quickly. Perhaps with a different mirror, I would’ve enjoyed it more. But regardless of whether or not I enjoyed it, I deeply respect it and I am grateful to the authors for sharing the story.

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esm_359's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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thewordsdevourer's review

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challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

reading this book was an experience. punching the air is neither too plot- nor character-driven - amal and the tide of his days and life are instead driven along by the oppressive system - but the emotions it's able to evoke from the reader are sth else.

zoboi and salaam masterfully use the verse form to their advantage, visually depicting the oppressiveness and sense of being trapped deeply felt by amal and many black boys and men everywhere under the american prison industrial complex. how the system and the white ppl who both consciously and inadvertently uphold it are illustrated w/ nuance and a keen eye, their ignorance and racism so ingrained they arent even aware of the power of their words or actions, and all of it maddening esp in the juvie setting. this book's also abt art and its power, and the structure and incorporation of drawing and many visual elements rly complement the aforementioned themes.

tbh the novel's content and msg arent anything unfamiliar, but i think what truly makes it unique is the whole absorbing experience the one feels reading it. the emotions it evokes are near total, and one feels strongly connected to amal and what he's going thru. perhaps the fact that salaam himself has been thru the very same thing as amal has sth to do w/ it, and he's able to channel it all very well here.

overall, this is a very emotionally absorbing and powerful book. it's not rly plot-heavy but its form and structure are surprisingly effective and impactful.

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iheartm4m's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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brookey8888's review

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow was very good. I honestly had no clue what this was about when I picked it up, I just recognized the author. This is such an important story that everyone should read. It does discuss hard, but important topics so be prepared. Some of the poems(?) gave me goosebumps. The reason it’s a 4.5 is because it did take me a while to get used to the verse and kind of connect with the story, but once I did I couldn’t put this down. Highly recommend!

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monicalaurette's review

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book first caught my eye because of the beautiful colors on the cover and the imagery with the butterfly. So I picked it up and read the summary.

I personally love to watch documentaries about people being proven innocent and getting to go back into freedom, and I’ve seen ‘When They See Us’ that showcased the Exonerated Five (granted I saw it after purchasing this book but whatever). I wish there weren’t so many documentaries and shows that are about helping those wrongfully accused get free, but I like to see them get to hug their families and drive away from the prison that was their home for however long. I feel bad that I can’t do anything for them, since they are already out, and the most I can do for others wrongfully accused that are still locked up is just retweeting their story. But hopefully stories like this and the ones before it, and the world we are creating today, that that will be less common.

“....like everything that I am, that I’ve ever been counts as being guilty.”

So based on the above, and the summary you’ve probably already read, this story follows a young, black teen named Amal who is wrongfully accused of assaulting another teen (a white one from the rich(er) side of town). Written in gorgeous poetry (and in my opinion sometimes they were like lyrics), this follows Amal’s life from trial to into his time in juvenile detention. You watch as Amal works hard to not lose himself while staying alive. Ways that he does this is using art, both words and drawing.

I gave Punching the Air 5 stars because the flow of the words was beautiful and painted a heart-breaking and emotional story. I wish stories like this didn’t have to be something that is so common that while fictional, it’s based off Yusef’s own incarceration, but instead they were truly rooted in fiction.

“They call it free time and it's the biggest lie because we are still in here.”

I loved the comparison of the courtroom doors leading to the jail with the Door of No Return to America. It was powerful and I felt that for many, especially the younger ones that are in these situations, it has this same feeling.

I know I’ve wanted to punch the real life versions of Ms. Rinaldi in the different documentaries that I’ve seen and I wish that she was real so my anger could be put towards someone else. How dare she help him hone his art to get into a summer program and testify against him like that? (also like…I know why she did it too….starts with a ‘R’)

Wished we could have learned the outcome of Jeremy’s testimony and how it affected Amal’s sentence and if he’d stay in there because Amal’s future rested on that.

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rachelwierick's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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